10/27/2026
Hello friends! I thought I would take a minute to address the horribly composed article written by The Valley News ~ about the closing of Samurai soul food.
One of the worst things about the article, is the fact that they made no mention of the employees that have put their heart and soul into making Samurai what it was ~ Jazz, Gavin (Starsky), Corbin (Hutch) and myself (Amy).
Jazz started working at Samurai when she was 15 years old. First she served food, and then later she served alcohol when she turned 18. In the last 3 years she had moved into the kitchen to work as a chef on the line with Kelden. As with everything else that Jazz puts her mind to, we were pleasantly surprised! She turned out to be quite the phenomenal chef. Her knife skills have far exceeded what anyone expected of her. In fact many customers would ask if Jazz was “cooking today”, she held a special place in many of our friends and customers hearts. Not only with her “spicy” banter, but with the way she just knew exactly how everyone wanted their food to be prepared (there were a lot of variations) but she just KNEW! Samurai was Jazz’s second home for the last 10 years, and the restaurant closing has really pulled at her heart strings.
Then we have the Perry Boys! (Men now) They both started at 14 years old with us. Gavin (Starsky) started out as a dishwasher, and when he would have games or practices at school he would send his little brother (Corbin) in to do dishes for him. After practice or the game, Gavin would come right to the restaurant and the boys would knock out all the dishes together! Gavin then moved on to food runner, then he worked a bit on the line, before landing out front to serve (which is what the goal was). Corbin continued on in the dish area, moved up to food runner, and finally to server! You couldn’t have asked for better employees. They always showed up, or had their shift covered, always smiling, and always willing to do anything you asked of them. We, as well as our customers love them both!
Then there’s me (Amy) ~ The mother hen, the “President” as Kelden called me 😅, the one who spent every waking hour TRYING to keep up with literally everything pertaining to the restaurant, except the cooking (I did on occasion have to help out) but in the restaurant business you have (FOH - front of the house) and (BOH - back of the house) I’m
Most definitely the FOH! The talkative one, the handler of all issues 😅 and by all issues, I mean if someone needed a paper clip on a Monday at midnight, I’d get a call! I put my heart and soul into the restaurant, and relentlessly tried to keep everything going, even when I knew that Kelden was ready for a change.
As the article stated, Covid did take a toll on the business, it took a toll on everyone. People started cooking more at home, and saving money. Now the economy is terrible, and people just don’t go out to eat as much. Covid is not the reason that Samurai closed ~ We have had a never ending problem with the water runoff from route 5, that has caused major issues with our parking lot and it wreaked havoc on our floors (the drains that were installed by the town, in no way helped us with the water issue). The article states that Kelden is 66, he’s only 56!😅 He does have some health issues with Gout, which makes it really hard to stand all day, and he’s had issues with his pancreas as well. So with the job being physically demanding, as well as financially all over the place, he decided to pursue a different career. We certainly had a huge following! So many loyal friends and customers coming in, week after week, from near and far. They still want to come dine with us. I can’t tell you how many thousands of emails, texts and comments I’ve received from people that are upset to see our doors closed, but thankfully many have followed Jazz and I to The Little Grille in Bradford. Ten years is a long time to just part ways, so we are really grateful to be able to share more lunches/dinners with you!
It’s heartbreaking for some of us, and bittersweet for others. To all of our friends, employees and customers, we couldn’t have done it without you and I’m only one phone call away ~ 🍻 Amy
